Building a New Russia: Can the "European Dream" be Beaten? Part 1

This article is a continuation of the author’s creative search for those beacons that will guide us to build a new society on the territory of the former USSR - a society based on the mentality of this region’s inhabitants which can overcome the effects of the “Ruins” [a reference to the period in Ukrainian history - JA] which we have lived through for the past 30 years. This part is dedicated to Europe or, rather, understanding those techniques and tools with which the West was able to destroy the former empire with the hands of its own residents.

“Live like in Europe.” Doesn’t seem wrong, does it? By introducing this “dream” into the consciousness of the residents of the USSR, the US was able not only to destroy its one true enemy, but for the past 25 years has been able to rule the minds of its former citizens. The string of color revolutions in the post-Soviet space, including the two Maidans in Ukraine, the massive agitation inside Russia by the so-called pro-European liberal opposition - all of this suggests that the “Eurodream” is still one of the most dangerous and effective methods for controlling 1/6 of the earth’s surface.

How can this be fought?

In order to knock an idea out of the enemy’s hands, it must be either spearheaded, or its inconsistency must be exposed. Thus, the two most important areas of work must be debunking the Euromyth and constructing our own society which can make those “Eurodreamers” into a bunch of marginals.

Only once this happen can we say that we have not only won a war for minds, but have simply freed the minds of our citizens from spiritual invasion and are ready to develop our successes for neighboring territories.

By analogy with the Great Patriotic War, this would be tantamount to regaining the land up to the border of the former Soviet Union in 1944.

The concept of struggle and tools

How are Euromyths built? There are two general trajectories. The first is establishing a certain standard, i.e. a desired image in the minds of people. The second is establishing experimental territories for such conditions in which the picture becomes more attractive.

When the Titanic was sinking, everyone and everything fled together, including the rats, the passengers, and even some crew members. The same mechanism was launched 30 years ago. The stagnation and then the manmade crisis at the end of the 1980’s created the illusion for the residents of the former USSR that their country’s ship was sinking, and that they couldn’t all escape at once. So everyone had to quickly sit down in their life-boats (new states) and quickly navigate to that alluring picture where salvation could be found.

Somewhere and sometime, this all happened to us. We are not going to go into details and analyze them as they were. Let us note only a few points.

The first is the tool. Debunking the “myths” of the USSR was not the whim of democratic dissidents, but part of a well thought-out plan. The main objective of the collapse of the economy of the former USSR and the destruction of its society was that of giving the peoples of the former USSR no other alternative to Eurodreaming.

The second was the creation of an “opponent” on this territory, albeit with some difficulties and in a more democratic, more European form. The West then justified that they had acted with the best of intentions. They fought the Evil Empire, which justified certain methods. Let’s remember this…

The main message of the Euromyth is that a better life is lived in Europe and that any reasonable person should want such. This was hammered into people’s consciousness as an axiom so much that “thus it was, thus it is, and thus it will always be.” All normal people have all sought to leave the Empire of Mordor for the Enlightened West, and all who are against this are the offspring of darkness, Tartarus, and Asians (understood as swear words). Those who do not share this common delusion of such a society are either marginalized (called “Soviets” and other epithets) or declared to be the enemy. And people aren’t supposed to think or rummage around for different sources.

There were two waves of migration to the West from Ukraine (not counting the dissidents of the first Civil War or the war criminals of WWII). The first was from the territory of Austria-Hungary in the early 20th century, when the Habsburgs persecuted the Galicians. The second wave was after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But for all the rest of history, Ukrainians have come from the West to us for a better life.

I won’t even say anything about the resettlements of the residents of the enlightened Polish Commonwealth on the lands of the wild Russian fields or how Sloboda Ukraine arose. Hitting below the belt is not one of my habits.

As we see, mythology is the most important tool in the fight against us, and this means that destroying myths is our counter-weapon.

The fight against the totalitarian past (“Hang the communists”!) with alternative points of view (“Putin La-La-La”) and other inventions of the intellectual thought of puppeteers multiplied by the intellectual level of their consumers all comes from those compilers of myths.

In general, however, as the facts show, truth is the worst enemy of Eurointegration. This means that word and enlightenment should become one of our main weapons against our opponents.

The Euromyth worked flawlessly in the 1990’s, excellently in the 2000’s, but in 2010 started to limp. Why? The point is that everything has changed over the past thirty years not only in the former Soviet Union, but in neighboring Europe as well.

The author recently spoke with a German who returned home after nearly 15 years of residency in Russia (in the position of representing a major German corporation). Returning, he didn’t recognize his country. It was difficult for him to take in all the changes that had happened during his short business visits home or vacations, but he felt them when he finally returned.

Those who left for the West in search of a better life in the 1990’s and 2000’s tell us the same. The point is not even that the the myths drawn in the minds of post-Soviet citizens turned out to be inaccurate (back then this still was a trifle compared to the complete chaos back in the homeland) but their deep conviction that Europe is moving in the wrong direction, i.e., not towards the ideal for which they moved. On the contrary, Europe is wallowing in problems and many of the migrants, standing before them and having the choice today, would not leave for anywhere.

Why?

Why did our former compatriots leave? For security and a more comfortable life. These basic human needs could not be provided by the motherland, so part of her citizens quite naturally chose the path of the migrant.

In fact, these motives work both on the individual and at the community level. It is from this angle that I would consider the collapse of the Soviet Union into independent states. Some parts of the once united society were convinced that by emigrating they could live better in a European home.

What has this “European” dream degenerated into for our migrants today and why has this argument virtually ceased to be effective in Russia, but been so successfully applied in Ukraine?